[HPFGU-Movie] My 2c on the DVD

[Richelle Votaw]

Nicholas wrote:

> Firstly; the scene in the snow and at the foot of the staircase, when Harry
> is voicing his own doubts about whether or not he is the heir of Slytherin.
> That theme comes over very clearly in the book, but is only touched upon in
> the movie. I wasn't altogether happy with the way the scene was written,
> though; acting from the twins not that great; when one of them calls Harry
> a 'seriously evil wizard', Harry should have smiled, to make it plain that
> he knew that they didn't mean it. Script for the scene generally weak,
> which is probably why it was cut.

Several things in this scene seemed rather stiff.  First, why were Ron and Hermione standing so far away from Harry?  Second, the twins were rather stiff, should've come closer to Harry, slapped him on the back or something.  Harry should either a) have smiled or b) said something like "Oh, shut up."  The latter would've kept more with the theme the scene was trying to convey, Harry's clear confusion and "what if" mind frame.  I did like Dan's delivery of the lines to Ron and Hermione once they'd gone inside, and Rupert's "Why would that make anyone happy?" but Hermione's last line in that scene (something about "then we'll truly know who the heir of Slytherin is") was awful.  Maybe it's my imagination, but Emma seems to have a bad habit of making her lines *sound* memorized.  Which is fine when Herminone's lecturing or quoting something from a book, but not in cases like that.  Still, I'd have kept it anyway.

>The scene in the library, where the Hufflepuffs are talking; someone else
>has already mentioned this one; makes the school's attitude to Harry much
>clearer, as in the book.

That one was very good.  Very, very good.  I can't understand why they cut it at all.

> Most importantly, the scene where Harry and Ron visit Hermione in the
> hospital (after she drank the Polyjuice Potion and turned into a cat) when
> Hermione puts together the whole 'Tom Riddle + fifty years ago + last time
> the Chamber was opened' scenario. Makes far more sense then for Harry to
> ask the diary, when he finally realises how it works, whether it knows
> anything about the Chamber of Secrets.

Yes, this one was vital.  For one, as you mentioned, it would've cleared it up rather than leave it looking like Harry just decided to write in a blank book.  Another thing, Ron mentions his detention.  I've complained before that the movie made it look like he got away without detention while Harry served his.  

I'd have also kept the Hagrid with rooster thing in the hallway.  At least to clear up why Hagrid is carrying around roosters in Hogwarts.  Dead ones, at that.

I liked the Hedwig scene, where Harry is pondering who he really is.  However, to be kept it would've needed a lot more transition than boom in the castle, boom outside, boom back in.

> Deeply disappointed with the cast interviews; I wanted meaty, informative
> interviews, not 10-second soundbites.

I did like that they talked with more than just the main characters.  Those kids are all *so* cute!  But why on Earth was Tom talking with his teeth clenched together?  He doesn't usually talk like that.

I enjoyed the behind the scene snips in the interviews, even as short as they were.  Particularly the one where Emma is insisting she's going to be taller than Daniel, and he's insisting that she's just trying to embarass him.  She says something like "I'm not trying to embarass you, I'm just trying to be taller than you." To which he replies "Same thing."  Which is particularly amusing considering I'd just looked at the pictures online from the DVD release party, and in one there's a picture of a large portion of the cast.  Emma is just nearly as tall as Dan, and the only ones he's taller than now are Bonnie (Ginny) and Miriam Margoyles (Prof Sprout)!

Richelle


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